Page 329 - Marketing Management

306 PART 4 BUILDING STRONG BRANDS

• It can attack firms its own size that are not doing the job and are underfinanced. These firms
have aging products, are charging excessive prices, or are not satisfying customers in other ways.
• It can attack small local and regional firms. Several major banks grew to their present size by
gobbling up smaller regional banks, or “guppies.”

CHOOSING A GENERAL ATTACK STRATEGY Given clear opponents and objectives,
what attack options are available? We can distinguish five: frontal, flank, encirclement, bypass, and
guerilla attacks.
• Frontal Attack. In a pure frontal attack, the attacker matches its opponent’s product, advertis-
ing, price, and distribution. The principle of force says the side with the greater resources will
win. A modified frontal attack, such as cutting price, can work if the market leader doesn’t re-
taliate, and if the competitor convinces the market its product is equal to the leader’s. Helene
Curtis is a master at convincing the market that its brands—such as Suave and Finesse—are
equal in quality but a better value than higher-priced brands.
• Flank Attack. A flanking strategy is another name for identifying shifts that are causing gaps to
develop, then rushing to fill the gaps. Flanking is particularly attractive to a challenger with fewer
resources and can be more likely to succeed than frontal attacks. In a geographic attack, the chal-
lenger spots areas where the opponent is underperforming. Although the Internet has siphoned
newspaper readers and advertisers away in many markets, Independent News & Media, a
102-year-old Irish media company, sells a majority of its 175 newspaper and magazine titles
where the economy is strong but the Internet is still relatively weak—countries such as Ireland,
26
South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and India. The other flanking strategy is to serve uncov-
ered market needs. Ariat’s cowboy boots have challenged long-time market leaders Justin Boots
and Tony Lama by making boots that were every bit as ranch-ready, but ergonomically designed
to feel as comfortable as a running shoe—a totally new benefit in the category. 27
• Encirclement Attack. Encirclement attempts to capture a wide slice of territory by launching a
Combining comfort with rugged grand offensive on several fronts. It makes sense when the challenger commands superior re-
wear, Ariat is taking on the mar- sources. In making a stand against archrival Microsoft, Sun Microsystems licensed its Java soft-
ket leaders in the cowboy boot ware to hundreds of companies and thousands of software developers for all sorts of consumer
devices. As consumer electronics products began to go digital, Java started
market.
appearing in a wide range of gadgets.
• Bypass Attack. Bypassing the enemy altogether to attack easier markets
instead offers three lines of approach: diversifying into unrelated prod-
ucts, diversifying into new geographical markets, and leapfrogging
into new technologies. Pepsi has used a bypass strategy against Coke by
(1) rolling out Aquafina bottled water nationally in 1997 before Coke
launched its Dasani brand; (2) purchasing orange juice giant Tropicana
in 1998, when it owned almost twice the market share of Coca-Cola’s
Minute Maid; and (3) purchasing the Quaker Oats Company, owner of
market leader Gatorade sports drink, for $14 billion in 2000. 28 In
technological leapfrogging, the challenger patiently researches and devel-
ops the next technology, shifting the battleground to its own territory
where it has an advantage. Google used technological leapfrogging to
overtake Yahoo! and become the market leader in search.
• Guerrilla Attacks. Guerrilla attacks consist of small, intermittent attacks,
conventional and unconventional, including selective price cuts, intense
promotional blitzes, and occasional legal action, to harass the opponent
and eventually secure permanent footholds. A guerrilla campaign can be
expensive, although less so than a frontal, encirclement, or flank attack,
but it typically must be backed by a stronger attack to beat the opponent.

CHOOSING A SPECIFIC ATTACK STRATEGY Any aspect of the
marketing program can serve as the basis for attack, such as lower-priced or
discounted products, new or improved products and services, a wider
variety of offerings, and innovative distribution strategies. A challenger’s
success depends on combining several, more specific, strategies to improve
its position over time.